Cat litter - bear with me here.....

Progress report!

Mrs C all but emptied the shed on Thursday, so today operations could begin..... I have borrowed a little fan heater which I put into the shed first thing this morning, and let it run to hopefully dry things out a bit; by the middle of the day, the floor was indeed starting to dry, if only a little.

Mid-way through the day, I removed the electrics from the shed, and shut myself inside it with a nice strong LED work light, while Mrs C showered the shed with the hose - and we have found the leaks!

There is a small leak in the roof where two screws haven't quite champed up tightly enough, so they will be tightened tomorrow and then I will daub some of the roof repair paint over the top of them for good measure.

The bulk of the water, as I suspected is coming in at floor level, in two ways. The 'main' leak is where there is one layer of damp proof course on top of another one, overlapping; the water is running between the layers and wicking into the shed, so I am pretty confident that the roof repair paint will seal them off. In addition, under deluge conditions, the water is pooling on top of the damp proof course and then bubbling up through where the wall has a rib. So, it looks as though the expanding foam will get used also.

I am going to let the outside dry until tomorrow and then we are going to seal it.

 

OK - one tin of roof seal and one can of expanding foam, and approximately half the shed has been sealed inside and out. for the roof, there were two screws that appeared to be the cause of the water getting in, so they were tightened and daubed with the roof seal paint to make doubly sure. Around the base, the paint has been slathered on liberally, and although it wasn't done for cosmetic purposes, it actually looks OK. Mrs C has taken a photo, which I will post later.

I have also suspended the fan heater from a set of step ladders so the airflow is blowing down onto the floor rather than just across the top - hopefully, this will speed up the drying process. I once that side is a bit drier, I will move the remainder of the stuff in the shed over and do the other side.

 

Operation Sahara continues.....

After rain overnight last night, the shed was not any drier than it was, but it wasn't any wetter either - so, it looks as though we are heading in the right direction. The fan heater was farting against thunder, so this evening I have decided to put one of our portable air-con units out in the shed and run it as a dehumidifier - must more puff to it, as well as a pumped water output pipe.

 

It's going to take a while for the inside of the Shed to dry out as the warm moist air has to go somewhere, and it's amazing just how much water that wood will absorb.

 

Aye, its a slow game right enough - still, if we have managed to stop more water getting in, then the battle is half way there. Come the summer, I can leave the doors open to let the air circulate properly and dry it out more if needs be.

It is definitely drying though - the slightly squishy area at the door is no longer squishy underfoot, and rather just moving where two boards meet without a support underneath - I think I will lay ply over that bit when it is dry and screw through to add strength to that bit before laying interlocking flooring over the top

 

The acid test will come tonight and tomorrow with Doris blowing in - it is chucking it down out there already.

PS - don't tell Mrs C about Doris blowing in my shed, she might get jealous